Campaign of the Month:
January 2012

Star Trek Late Night

Jacen's Personal Log - Episode 7

Jacen Daasa’s Personal Log

Delays seem to be the order of the day lately. Even as I get word from Satele, I learn that the station is being locked down due to a diplomatic event occuring here. Apparently, representatives from all the major nations will be in attendance, including the Federation, the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Empire, and (most alarming) the Galactic Empire.

Still, the time spent on DS9 did allow us to effect more repairs to the Heart o’ Gold, including the special item I managed to procure from Quark with the help of Tarak. It’s all but guaranteed that will prove to be most useful as events play out in the future.

During our enforced layover, Karr did bail out his ‘cousin’, Jimbones Jim from the constable’s office. Cousin Jim is a bit annoying at times, but no more so than most of the lower-level criminals I’ve occassionally dealt with. The only information he had for Karr was a set of coordinates, which proved to be some planet on the far side of the Klingon Empire. With any luck, our two goals won’t impede one another – and that’s not even considering the desires of the rest of the crew. Things might be easier if I departed, but in truth I want to see where this all leads to.

Also during the delay, Cate had apparently asked Tarak to procure for her some programming upgrades, which Karr installed. After he was done, I noticed Cate wasn’t acting quite like herself – she seemed less distant than normal. I hope Karr didn’t cross too many datastreams when he added the upgrades; Cate always came through for me in the past, and I’d hate to think her capabilities have been degraded due to a mistake. Of course, I wouldn’t put it beyond Tarak to seek out low-quality upgrades for Cate in order to keep the price down, so the problem – if there is one – might have originated there. It could all be in my mind, as well; after all, with the new upgrades, perhaps Cate is only adjusting to her new capabilities. I suppose only time will tell.

While all of this was going on, we were attacked by Klingons while on the station. It had started with a simple trip to Quark’s, where we were just hoping to have a quiet drink among friends. When we arrived, all of the regulars were no where to be found, and in their place were pockets of Imperials, Klingons, Feds, and Romulans. Things were quiet until Ambassador Vader showed up. I confess, once I’d heard he would be on the station I didn’t think it would be long before we met. The Ambassador didn’t stay long, though as he left he said something to the Klingon contingent. The next thing we knew, they were attacking us with concealed disruptors. We all dove over the bar for cover, though the bar quickly disintegrated under the combined fire. Apparently, everyone else in the bar had ignored the station’s ‘No Weapons’ policy, as the bar quickly became a massive firefight. Constable Odo’s security forces did end the fighting in short order, though not before YunDarr and Karr had suffered critical injuries.

We took Karr back to the ship’s medbay where Cate could take a look at him. YunDarr was being treated by the station’s personnel so we left him to their care. While waiting for Cate to treat Karr, Tarak headed to the station’s command center to speak with Colonel Kira about the matter. In his absence, I received a message from a Klingon Captain, Krogg, saying something along the lines of our turning Karr over to them would result in a reward. I responded with some anger, bringing into question the good Captain’s courage, which resulted in an immediate attack upon the Heart o’ Gold. We got our shields up quickly, and I held fire, waitig for the station’s response. However, before the Klingons could attack again, they were blown to little glowing bits of debris by Ambassador Vader’s flagship, the Executor.

When all of the activity had died down, we learned that Tarak had been arrested by Constable Odo, primarily because of his heated exchange with Colonel Kira. Karr would recover due to Cate’s care, but YunDarr was in a worse state. We decided it would be better if he was taken aboard the ship and put under Cate’s care instead of remaining on the station. The Colonel did apologize for what had happened, and even put the station’s resources to work helping us to repair our ship. I have to say, despite my initial thoughts on the matter, the Colonel did act in the only way her duty would allow. I hold no grudge toward her.

A week later, Rexar showed up with a ploy. He’d discovered what he thought might be an undiscovered Bajoran temple in a swampy region of the planet. As the repairs to the ship were all but done, and since we were all getting cabin dementia, some of us decided to check it out. So Rexar, Karr, Tarak, and myself headed to the planet in search of what riches we could find. I didn’t expect to actually get to keep anything we found – after all, I’ve been on a few exhibitions like this in the past, and for the most part, planets don’t like other people stealing from their tombs. But I was interested since I think the Bajoran past is linked closely to the Force. Thus it was with some surprise that the ruins we found seemed to predate the Prophet’s arrival on Bajor, and seemed to have been erected in worship of the Pah Wraiths. If I thought the Prophets were indiciative of the Force, surely, the Pah were links to the Dark Side.

Of course, as seems to be the normal luck among our group, when we started investigating further, the ground collapsed beneath us and dumped us into the tomb. When the dust cleared, we saw we were trapped, though at least we were unhurt. We’ve investigated a few hallways and rooms, and have made some startling discoveries, though nothing that lends any credibility to my own theories. We haven’t found the way out yet, but one paradox has stepped forward. During our journey through the tomb, we discovered one niche that contained a d’ja pagh, the symbol of a Bajoran’s faith in the prophets. If this tomb pre-dated the prophets, did this indicate we weren’t the first to find this tomb? Or did perhaps the tomb wasn’t as old as we first thought? Or did this indicate that the Bajoran earring and cuff indicate something else prior to the arrival of the Prophets? I’m told they once indicated a Bajoran’s d’jara, or caste, so the answer might be as simple as this. Regardless, I find my love for ancient mysteries being reawakened as we make our way through the dusty hallways of this crypt. It is my fervent hope that we make even more exciting discoveries as we continue to seek the way out.